source: gmanews.tvForget a major, major sweep for the Ateneo Blue Eaglets.
The University Santo Tomas Tiger Cubs made sure about that after pulling off a gripping 77-71 triumph at the start of their UAAP juniors basketball title series at The Arena in San Juan Tuesday.
Kevin Ferrer, tipped to win this season's Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, and Ismael Corre joined forces to lead the Tiger Cubs to victory. Ferrer scored 35 points while Corre added 24 markers.
UST, which eliminated La Salle-Zobel to gain the last finals berth, entered the series where they need to beat Ateneo three times in order to win the title.
The Blue Eaglets earned an outright finals spot after completing a 14-game sweep of the double-round eliminations.
"I guess the heart of the boys really showed in this game," said UST coach Allan Ascue.
The Tiger Cubs won despite losing Jaypee Sarcia to ejection.
Sarcia, who averaged 11.8 points this season, was thrown out of the game for hitting Ateneo's Jay Saclutti during the first quarter.
Instead of feeling down due to the loss of their key player, the Tiger Cubs drew inspiration from Ferrer and Corre.
Ferrer, who will play for the RP team in the FIBA Asia U-18 Championship in Yemen after the series, grabbed 14 rebounds and shot 6-of-15 from three-point country.
With the game tied at 62-all, Ferrer knocked in two treys to give UST enough cushion, 68-62, with more than two minutes left in the match.
For his part, Corre also made key baskets in the second half. He had three triples and dished out a nifty pass to burly Neil Ilarde for a commanding 74-66 UST lead with only 1:05 remaining.
"The ejection of Jaypee (Sarcia) perhaps gave us that drive to win," said Ascue. "He really gives us depth in the forward position, so he was a big loss, but I'm glad that Kevin (Ferrer) and (Ismael) Corre picked up the slack on offense."
Ateneo's Kiefer Ravena made things interesting when he scored to cut the margin to 74-71, 27.4 seconds left.
But Ferrer sealed the deal by hitting two free throws.
Ravena had 24 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals while Von Pessumal added 14 points and seven boards. - JVP/RCJ, GMANews.TV
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